Droitwich

Members

Membership Fees for 2024/25

The committee has recently discussed membership renewal fees, and it was decided to set the membership fees the same as last year, ie as follows:

• Full membership fee of £10 for the year from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025
• Reduced membership fee of £8 for the period from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025
• Reduced membership fee of £6 for the period from 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2025

In addition, a year's subscription to the Third Age Matters magazine will be £3, and is only available to members who renew or join in April 2024.

Please note that we have fixed membership costs which need to be covered. These are £4 per member per year as our subscription to the national u3a body, the Third Age Trust, and £1 per member per year for our use of the Beacon management information system.

Membership Renewal Process ...

The Membership Renewal Process will be similar to the one adopted last year, but with some changes designed to save money on printing and postage, and will hopefully be more convenient for members.

... for Members who have supplied us with an email address

Individual Membership Renewal Requests (which will include your existing contact details) will be sent to you by email from 1 April 2024 onwards. If you have changed your email address and not yet informed the Membership Secretary, please do so before the end of March, as otherwise the Request will go to your old email address.

Membership fees may be paid by bank transfer or by cheque - full details of how payments can be made will be supplied with the Request. If you wish to pay by Bank Transfer, please reply to the email Request by email, including details about the Bank Transfer in your email, and any corrections to your contact details. Alternatively, if you wish to pay by Cheque, please send the cheque by post to the Membership Secretary, including a printed copy of the Request, and including any corrections to your contact details. You may instead, hand-in the above at a Monthly Meeting.

Please note that if you wish to pay the membership fees for yourself and another member (eg a husband, wife or partner) as a single payment, please make the payment from a joint account. Otherwise, our ability to claim Gift Aid (see below) is compromised. If this is not possible, each member should make their own membership fee payment.

Confirmation of your membership renewal will be sent by email along with an e-Card Membership Card for 2024/25 following 1 April 2024. The e-Card will be in the form of a PDF attachment to the email. The 2024/25 Members Leaflet will be available for members on the Droitwich u3a website, and from which you may then obtain a printed copy.

... for Members who do not use email

Individual Membership Renewal Forms (pre-populated with your existing contact details) will be sent to you by post from 1 April 2024 onwards. If you have changed your postal address and not yet informed the Membership Secretary, please do so before the end of March, as otherwise the Request will go to your old address.

Membership fees may be paid by bank transfer or by cheque - full details of how payments can be made will be supplied with the Form. Please return the Form by post to the Membership Secretary, including any corrections to your contact details. Please also include payment by Cheque, or if you wish to pay by Bank Transfer, details about the Bank Transfer. Alternatively, you may instead, hand-in the above at a Monthly Meeting.

Please note that if you wish to pay the membership fees for yourself and another member (eg a husband, wife or partner) as a single payment, please make the payment from a joint account. Otherwise, our ability to claim Gift Aid (see below) is compromised. If this is not possible, each member should make their own membership fee payment.

Confirmation of your membership renewal with a Membership Card for 2024/25 and a Members Leaflet will be returned to you by post following 1 April 2024.

Gift Aid

From April 2024 we are going to start claiming Gift Aid from HMRC. This should increase our income by something like 20-25%, but at no additional cost to yourself.

Our understanding is that for UK tax payers, the whole of your membership fee is eligible for Gift Aid, so long as either your Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax payments are in excess of the membership fee.

So ... following your membership renewal, we will be sending you a request asking you complete a Gift Aid Declaration to give us permission to claim Gift Aid from your membership fee. For members who have supplied us with an email address this request will be sent as an email, to which you can reply by email, otherwise it will be posted. It should be emphasised that you are entirely free to decide whether or not you wish to give us permission to claim Gift Aid.

Please note ...

According to our Constitution, you will cease being a member of Droitwich u3a if your membership fee remains unpaid after 60 days following 1 April 2024.